Dolphin Emulator Introduces RetroAchievements for GameCube Games

One of the most beloved emulators now incorporates one of the most sought-after community features for retro games. The Dolphin emulator, which supports Nintendo GameCube and Wii games, is having a significant month. Two weeks ago, the Dolphin team announced a major update: they are transitioning from "stable" builds to a rolling release cycle, ending the "5.0" build era that began in 2016. Today, Dolphin is introducing another highly anticipated feature: RetroAchievements integration. RetroAchievements is a community-driven project that adds Xbox- or Steam-style achievements to thousands of older games.

According to Dolphin blog author JMC4789, "RetroAchievements sets essentially amount to a list of tasks and goals that may go above and beyond simply beating the game." The integration currently supports more than 100 GameCube games, although the exact list is unclear—the launch has overwhelmed RetroAchievements' servers, causing them to crash.

"The servers on fire, everything is okay. Grandma will be by shortly to fix it. The hype is real," the RetroAchievements account tweeted less than 10 minutes after the launch.

There is, at least, a partial list of popular supported GameCube games on the Dolphin blog:

• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

• Super Mario Sunshine

• Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life

• Super Smash Bros. Melee

• Baten Kaitos Origins

• Kirby Air Ride

• Star Fox Assault

• Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

• Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour

• Luigi's Mansion

• Metroid Prime

• Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader

You can earn achievements simply by playing through the game, with each set including progression achievements that align with the main story or objectives, as JMC4789 explains. If you complete the game, it will be marked as finished on your RetroAchievements account. Alternatively, you can actively hunt for achievements at any time by visiting the game's page on retroachievements.org or through the Achievements menu in Dolphin's Progress Tab. This feature allows you to see which achievements you have, which ones you still need, and how to obtain them, offering new challenges in games you've played multiple times.

Since emulators allow players to hack games or use save states, RetroAchievements supports two modes for earning trophies: softcore and hardcore. Activating hardcore mode disables some emulator features to provide a more authentic console experience.

Several other emulators have also added RetroAchievements support in recent years, such as the PlayStation 1 emulator DuckStation and the PSP emulator PPSSPP. It's most commonly used through RetroArch, a popular frontend that integrates various emulators. RetroAchievements offers interesting features beyond just earning badges; for instance, some games track speedrunning records, while others include "rich presence" to monitor your in-game progress and actions. If you follow friends on RetroAchievements.org, you can see in near real-time what they're doing, such as their current level in Super Mario Bros. and whether they're playing as small Mario or using a fire flower power-up.

Dolphin's support for RetroAchievements currently applies only to GameCube games, with plans to include Wii games in future updates. To use this feature, you'll need the latest development build, as it is only available on the PC version of Dolphin and not on the Android version. To enable it, go to Dolphin's Tools menu, activate RetroAchievements.org integration, and enter your username and password.